NBC's Emerald City premieres on Friday night and the new series promises a whole new take on the classic tale of The Wizard Of Oz. The first moments of the show reveal that this Dorothy has a tattoo of dots on her hand. So what does Dorothy's tattoo mean in Emerald City? Most likely, it's a link to her birth mother, who an adult Dorothy hopes to finally meet, but you know, that trip to Oz seems to put her off track a bit — or could it be the key to meeting her mom?
The first episode reveals that Dorothy has had it since she was a baby and her birth mother sought help from a family during a windy Kansas rainstorm. Her mother specifically kisses the spot where the dots are on Baby Dorothy's hand, so they must be significant. Dorothy's birth mother is covered in mud and runs through the cornfield as if she's in danger. Flash-forward 20 years and adult Dorothy still has the mark of dots, she's a nurse, and she still lives in that same house that her mother visited during the storm in Lucas, Kansas — but now, Dorothy has been adopted by a loving family. And then the tornado comes when Dorothy is on her way to meet her birth mother.
The tornado brings her and a police dog (to be later named Toto, ahem) to the land of Oz. I can't help but think there's a connection between Dorothy's mom, the tattoo, and Oz. Perhaps Dorothy's birth mother exists in Oz as one of the witches or illegal magic practitioners, banished because magic is currently banned in that world by the Wizard. Perhaps her mother is the reason magic is banned. And could that tattoo have some kind of link to the Wizard as well?
It's a mystery that should make this new journey through Oz in Emerald City a compelling one.
